OMAHA, Neb. — An onslaught of five home runs helped Oklahoma (41-22) eliminate one of the most powerful teams in college baseball history with a convincing 11-4 victory Wednesday night over No. 3-ranked Georgia (53-14) in the College World Series before a sellout crowd of 24,446 at Charles Schwab Field. The victory advances the Sooners to the best-of-3 championship series, where they will face No. 5 North Carolina (53-12-1) starting at 7 p.m. Saturday on ESPN. The Tar Heels advanced to the title series with a 12-7 victory over West Virginia (47-17) in Wednesday’s afternoon contest. In search of the school’s third national championship, OU continues to dispose of the nation’s elite. The Sooners stunned No. 2 Georgia Tech in its own Regional at Atlanta, swept No. 15 Kansas at the Super Regional in Lawrence, shut out No 7 Alabama in the opening round of the CWS and then took down the No. 3 Bulldogs in consecutive outings. Georgia led the nation with 179 homers this season, which ranks third all-time in Division I history, but it’s been OU’s postseason power surge that has overwhelmed opponents. OU’s five home runs Wednesday are the second-most for a team in a CWS game since the event moved from Rosenblatt Stadium to Charles Schwab Field in 2011. The Sooners have 26 home runs so far in 10 NCAA Tournament games and have pounded 22 home runs and averaged 10.4 runs while extending their season-long, eight-game winning streak. OU junior rightfielder Dasan Harris and junior centerfielder Jason Walk took center stage by hitting two home runs apiece after hitting just three homers during the entire regular season and adding one more in the NCAA Tournament en route to the CWS. Six players finished with at least two hits against the Bulldogs. Trey Gambill led OU’s 15-hit attack going 4-for-5 at the plate with 3 RBIs. Brendan Brock went 3-for-5, Harris was 2-for-5 with 5 RBIs, Walk was 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs, Jaxon Willits was 2-for-5 with an RBI and Deiten Lachance went 2-for-5. On the pitching mound, Sooners coach Skip Johnson kept things “fresh” by starting a freshman pitcher for the third straight game on college baseball’s biggest stage. Following previous stellar performances from freshmen Cord Rager and Xander Mercurius, righthander Nick Wesloski (2-1) became the third straight OU freshman to start at the CWS. Making just his second career start, the 6-foot-3, 219-pound Wesloski exited with two on and two out in the sixth inning and the Sooners leading 5-1. He finished with four hits and three runs (one earned), with four strikeouts, two walks and one hit-by-pitch. Junior righthander LJ Mercurius, who made 12 starts during the regular season, came on in relief and earned his fourth save. Scoring first for the sixth straight game, the Sooners took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning on a towering 416-foot shot to dead-center from the 5-foot-10, 166-pound Walk, who reached base for the 20th straight game. “You know what, he’s got a little bit of juice. I’m really proud of him,” Johnson said moments later in an ESPN interview before the Bulldogs batted in the bottom half of the inning. In the top of the fourth, Gambill pulled an inside fastball 362 feet into the OU bullpen in right field with an exit velocity of 103.6 mph to make it 2-0 and giving the Sooners their eighth multi-home run game in nine NCAA Tournament contests. Leftfielder Brendan Brock promptly followed with a single to center, then advanced to second on a balk. On the next pitch, Harris hit a 421-foot blast to right-center that exited at 104.1 mph, gave OU a 4-0 lead and chased Bulldogs starting pitcher Paul Farley. When Wesloski exited in the bottom of the sixth, the Bulldogs kept the sixth inning alive on a check-swing, slow-roller toward first base that was ruled an error and loaded the bases. Mercurius then issued to straight bases-loaded walks that narrowed the Sooners’ lead to 5-3. After throwing seven consecutive balls, Mercurius got out of the jam when junior third baseman Camden Johnson tagged out a runner after fielding a one-hopper between second and third base. OU responded with a run in the seventh when sophomore second baseman Kyle Branch led off with a single and later scored on a double down the right-field line by junior shortstop Willits to put the Sooners on top 6-3. After Brock led off the eighth with a walk and stole second, Harris smacked his second home run into the right-field stands. This one traveled 400 feet and made the score 8-3. After Walk’s second solo shot pushed the score to 9-3, Gambill doubled to right field in the top of the ninth to score Willits and Lachance and closed out the scoring for OU. Kolby Branch, the older brother of OU’s Kyle Branch, hit a solo home run to left-center in the bottom of the ninth to set the final margin. Pitchers of Record Win: Nick Wesloski (2-1) Loss: Paul Farley (8-2) Save: LJ Mercurius (4) Statistical Snapshot Dasan Harris | 2-for-5, 5RBIs, 2HRs Nick Wesloski | W, 5.2 IP, 4H, 3R, ER, 2BB, 4K, 90 pitches Jason Walk | 2-for-4, 2HRs Trey Gambill | 4-for-5, 3RBIs, HR, 2B Brendan Brock | 3-for-5, 2R Notes Oklahoma has won eight in a row, its longest winning streak of the season Wesloski made just his second start of the season, both of which have come in the NCAA Tournament and in consecutive starts. Wesloski hadn’t pitched in a game since May 31 Oklahoma has started a freshman on the mound in every game of the CWS thus far. Cord Rager, Xander Mercurius and Nick Wesloski combined for 20 innings over the three starts, allowing only two earned runs across those starts During OU’s winning streak the Sooners have won seven games against top-20 teams including five against top-10 teams Oklahoma bounced the ACC Champion (Georgia Tech), Big 12 Champion (Kansas) and SEC Champion (Georgia) during the NCAA postseason Harris tallied the second multi-home run game of his career. He had one previously at Arkansas May 9 Walk posted the first multi-homer game of his career Oklahoma tied its season high with five home runs. It hit five at Arkansas May 10 Walk and Harris both entered tonight’s game with four homers apiece Oklahoma has hit 43 home runs in the last 16 games, nearly half of its total of 91 this season OU has hit 26 home runs in 10 NCAA Tournament games OU’s five home runs are the second most by a team in CWS games played at Charles Schwab Field (opened in 2011) Walk extended his hitting streak to 12 games and subsequently his reached base streak to 20 games, both of which are team bests Oklahoma has scored first in six consecutive games. The last time an opponent scored first was during OU’s 15-8 win at Georgia Tech May 31 All 11 of OU’s RBIs and subsequently all five home runs came from left-handed hitters (Walk, Willits, Gambill, Harris) OU is tied with LSU with the most CWS Championship Series appearances in the last five years. Oklahoma went 3-0 to reach the CWS Championship Series this year, just as it did in 2022. The Sooners enter the championship series with 41 wins, the fewest by a team since the 2022 Ole Miss national championship team that finished the year with 22 Oklahoma is 3-0 against Georgia in postseason play over the last two years. The Sooners eliminated UGA in the 2025 SEC Tournament and in the 2026 CWS. Six Sooners had multi-hit games Gambill posted the first four-hit game of his career OU is 11-2 in neutral site games this season The Sooners are now .500 (17-17) in games against SEC teams this year, going 14-16 in the regular season and 3-1 in SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament play Up Next The Sooners will face North Carolina in the CWS Championship Series. The series follows a best-of-three format and will begin Saturday, June 20 at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN. About The Author troyderengowski61@gmail.com See author's posts
